Solid Performances for Porsche Teams, but few Rewards – Includes Highlights

This last weekend’s Rolex Sports Car Series race at Mid-Ohio looked like it would be a great one for the Porsche teams. At one point the defending GT Class Points Champion Brumos Racing team was in 2nd place for a large portion of the race. Unfortunately, a tire issue that made the car difficult to handle caused the team to fade and they ended the race in 7th place.

The top finishing Porsche team was the Magnus Racing team, finishing in 5th place in the GT Class. Magnus has been the top finishing Porsche team for a number of races. Unfortunately, most of those races have not been podium finishes, but both the Magnus Racing team and the Brumos Racing team are still in the GT Class Points Championship hunt. Both teams will need to finish a bit better the rest of the year and hope for a little help to get the to the top of the standings. No matter what happens the rest of the season, it should be some exciting racing action.

Below is more from Brumos racing team about the race.

Following recent race weekends that featured heavy rain, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course delivered a refreshing change, as the EMCO Gears Classic saw sunshine and warm temperatures. Brumos Racing was in fine form as well, the team having put in long hours on the road to deliver a sound car for Andrew Davis and Leh Keen. Davis definitely found it to his liking, qualifying the Brumos #59 Porsche 911 GT3 in 2nd place. Davis maintained his position during the opening stint of the race and the car was handed off to Leh Keen under yellow. The car developed a front end vibration early in Keen’s stint, making it difficult to handle. Although a 2nd set of tires late in the race improved things dramatically, Keen was not able to make headway in the time remaining against the highly competitive field, and Brumos settled for a 7th place finish.

“All in all, we had a strong weekend,” Keen said. “We had a great car off the truck and Andrew did an awesome job qualifying in 2nd place and staying up front for his entire stint. When I got in the car, I picked up a vibration in the front end after a couple of laps that just got progressively worse. The car started to pick up a big push and became really difficult to drive. We lost speed because of the push. In the end the vibration was shaking the whole car down the back straight and I could feel it through the brake pedal, so I was happy to come in and get those tires off. We lost some positions, but the new tires were great and I was beginning to make up some ground on the cars that had passed us. We just ran out of time there in the end. We had a little bit of bad luck with the tire, but the car was sound and the guys did a good job all weekend. We will build on that as we head on to our next race and will definitely look for a better result.”

Andrew Davis, having narrowly missed taking pole position, was determined to keep the #59 up in the front in his opening drive, saying, “We had a good position. I just couldn’t quite keep the pace with the leader. I was able to hold on to 2nd and felt like we had a podium car. I had a lot of pressure from the cars behind me but the balance of the car was good, and as the fuel load dropped off, the car actually got better. I was happy about that, and felt the race would come to us in the end. I’m really proud of our crew. After we had a little problem in our last race, they gave us some of the best stops I have seen from them, but when Leh had the vibration that affected the car we dropped back. It a tight field and once you lose position it is really hard to pass here at Mid-Ohio. The main thing was that we had a mistake-free race and every member of the team was strong, so I am proud of the Brumos crew and our effort. Now it’s time to move on to Road America, where we also know we are good, and concentrate on getting the Brumos #59 up on the podium.”

The 7th place finish at Mid-Ohio puts Brumos 7th in team points as they head to Road America. That race will take place on June 23, 2012 and will be broadcast live on SPEED TV.

In case you missed the race, the below video has highlights of the race.

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